Marina extension ban

THE regional government this week passed a new law banning the construc‐tion of new marinas or the extension of existing ones for a period of 15 years.

Mobility councillor Josep Marí explained that the new General Ports Plan is aimed at favouring public access to the sea and the nautical world “in an efficient and sustain ‐able way”.

According to Sr Marí, the final document was agreed with the nautical sector and all administra‐tions involved, and fore ‐sees the creation of tem ‐porary anchorage areas with low ‐ impact buoys and the provision of a network of dry marinas, which will be integrated into their surroundings and located mainly in in ‐land areas or close to ex ‐isting harbours.

The new Plan was drawn up following a re ‐port by Balearic ports management body Ports IB, which carried out a study and diagnosis of the current nautical sector to “detect future needs and comply with the existing demand,” in the words of the councillor.

The general goal is to optimise existing installa‐tions without the need to build new ones.

Rental boat safety clampdown

RENTAL companies and users of boats that do not require official qualifications for handling will be obliged to meet a new series of safety measures.

The Balearic Islands regional Mobility department met with maritime transport and nautical business representatives this week to discuss the issue of safety at the region’s ports.

One of the main points of discussion was that the coexistence of commercial vessels with leisure boats often leads to problems and safety concerns, as un ‐trained users are not familiar with proce‐dures.

The regional government announced the introduction of new legislation to reg‐ulate seasonal rental boats, with the sec‐tor now forced to abide by any instruc‐tions issued by maritime transport chiefs.

Regional Mobility councillor Josep Marí highlighted the fact that the agreement reached between the public and private sectors will “put an end to the problems experienced over the last few summer seasons and will improve safety at the re‐gion’s ports.

“It is now up to the rental companies to ensure that these regulations are met,” the councillor added.

Despite the victory, Ed ‐ucació is now reportedly preventing her from tak ‐ing part in the stabilisa ‐tion process for interim staff and denies her the option to take part in the competitive examination procedures, known in Spanish as oposiciones.

Motorhome dispute

RESIDENTS in residential areas in Palma are complaining about the arrival of large num‐bers of caravans and mo‐torhomes.

Dozens of these large vehi‐cles are currently parked at ur‐banisations in Son Moix, La Vileta, Son Rapinya, Arabela, Son Xigala, Son quint and Son Puig, according to Local Police.

Previously, RV drivers gath‐ered mainly in Ciudad Jardín and the car park of Son Hugo sports centre.

This new situation is causing heated arguments between residents and caravan owners over parking and other issues such as disposal of wastewa‐ter, which is sometimes report‐edly being done directly into the sewage system.

Some residents report that the first vehicles began arriving in the residential areas before the Covid pandemic, with owners spending the lock‐downs in their vehicles, and that since the end of the health emergency numbers have spi‐ralled.

Caravan and motorhome owners in Mallorca have long been demanding the creation of specific areas for them to park and spend the night, cul‐minating in several protest drives through the island.

Ramadan ends

HUNDREDS of followers of the Islamic faith in Mallorca gathered in the Germans Es‐calas sports centre last Friday to take part in a collective prayer to mark the end of Ramadan.

Global tourism

MALLORCA Tourism depart‐ment has joined a global net‐work of Tourism Museums, transforming its installations into Room 98 of the interna‐tional project with a wealth of documents and images outlining the development of the island as a holiday des‐tination since 1905.

Fire alert

MALLORCA was placed on extreme forest fire alert this week as temperatures were expected to reach up to 16ºC higher than usual for this time of year, escalating gradually until Saturday due to the entrance of a mass of hot air from Africa.

Love Island

BUILDING work is under way on the new Mallorca villa that will host the next instal‐ment of ITV2 reality TV show Love Island. Filming at the new site is expected to start in early June.

Crime down

CRIME in Inca dropped by 2.6 per cent over the first three months of the year, ac‐cording to figures released by the Guardia Civil. The lat‐est meeting of the Local Se‐curity Board highlighted the positive results in prevention work and the coordination between the force and the Local Police.

No-show charge

MALLORCA restaurants have begun charging cus‐tomers who fail to turn up after making a reservation. It was reported the measure, performed by using bank card details submitted by clients to make the reserva‐tion, is becoming more wide‐spread to compensate for losses caused by no‐shows.